Meshi Wifi Question

[DLite]

I know mesh wifi is highly problematic with C4, but I am wondering if it is the best choice in the context below, or if people have other ideas.

My elderly mother lives in an 1800 square foot condo. Her cable modem connection comes in at one corner of the condo, and we are unable to run cat6 to any other locations in the house.  The problem is that her consumer grade routers (TP-Link and previously Netgear) have not provided decent wifi in the far corner of the house. 

Would a mesh network solve her wifi problems without causing new problems for her (very small) C4 installation?  Her C4 gear consists only of 2 EA-1s that control AV components via IR only and 2 SR-260s that go along with them.

Would mesh be ok in this circumstance?  If so, is there one brand more likely to play nicely than others?  Does anyone have other non-mesh suggestions that might work better?  I realize running cat6 is the best solution, but there is neither an attic nor a crawl space, and she does not want surface mounted wires anywhere.

Thanks!

[RAV]

How are the EA1's linked to the network?
Does she use music streaming from the controllers, remote support, app, etc? Or is it very strictly a smart remote setup for 2 TVs?

 

[DLite]

Just now, RAV said:

How are the EA1's linked to the network?
Does she use music streaming from the controllers, remote support, app, etc? Or is it very strictly a smart remote setup for 2 TVs?

 

The EA1's are both wired to the router.  She does not use music streaming, the C4 app, or 4Sight.  Her dealer does occasionally remote into her system to troubleshoot non-hardware issues.  Other than that, it's just a smart remote setup.

[RAV]

Easy.
Pick a decent router, and a little network switch, than use the Eero and setup them to bridge mode.

Modem -> Router -> Switch -> EA#1, EA#2, Eero Pro #1, other local wired stuff if there is any.
Eero Pro #2, and if needed #3 just plugged in as wireless mesh extension.

If it's a gateway; then set it to bridged, or DMZ to router, or buy your own modem.

[DLite]

11 minutes ago, RAV said:

Easy.
Pick a decent router, and a little network switch, than use the Eero and setup them to bridge mode.

Modem -> Router -> Switch -> EA#1, EA#2, Eero Pro #1, other local wired stuff if there is any.
Eero Pro #2, and if needed #3 just plugged in as wireless mesh extension.

If it's a gateway; then set it to bridged, or DMZ to router, or buy your own modem.

Thanks, that sounds totally doable!  Do you have any router recommendations? I am a Unifi guy, but I'm thinking she doesn't need all that functionality (or Unifi's sometimes squirrelly updates.)

 

[Andrew luecke]

Don't use Orbi. There are a lot of installers with Eero though. Unifi supports mesh too (and have used it a bit, but its not ideal). 

[DLite]

57 minutes ago, RAV said:

Easy.
Pick a decent router, and a little network switch, than use the Eero and setup them to bridge mode.

Modem -> Router -> Switch -> EA#1, EA#2, Eero Pro #1, other local wired stuff if there is any.
Eero Pro #2, and if needed #3 just plugged in as wireless mesh extension.

If it's a gateway; then set it to bridged, or DMZ to router, or buy your own modem.

Maybe I'll give the Mikrotik hEX a shot as the wired-only router in this configuration.

[Cyknight]

Just thinking out loud - you say the two EA1's do local control and are hardwired .... couldn't you just put two APs in those locations (with a small 5 port network switch)?

[DLite]

41 minutes ago, Cyknight said:

Just thinking out loud - you say the two EA1's do local control and are hardwired .... couldn't you just put two APs in those locations (with a small 5 port network switch)?

I can see how that might seem weird, but it so happens that both EA1s are within like 8 feet of the cable modem.  She has one TV in the office where the modem is, and another one in the living room just outside the office. Good question though.

[msgreenf]

+1 for Eero

-100 foe Orbi

[therockhr]

4 hours ago, msgreenf said:

+1 for Eero

-100 foe Orbi

I have no experience with the mesh systems but this seems to be the consensus. There are lots of installers on the Remote Central forum who love Eero for all installs regardless of mesh or not.

[msgreenf]

Eero is solid. You will be amazed

[DLite]

After further review, I got one detail wrong in my description above.  The primary EA1 is wired to the router, but the secondary EA1 is actually connected via wifi right now.  Assuming I can't run an ethernet cable to that secondary controller, would the above configuration suggested by @RAV still work, or would it need some alteration?  To be specific, I am planning a MikroTik hEX router to an unmanaged 8-port switch, which will be connected to the primary EA1, the primary Eero Pro, and all the other wired equipment. The secondary controller would then connect via wifi to Eero.  

[lippavisual]

That’s fine, but will either have to redo setup for Wi-Fi on ea1 or keep the same Wi-Fi name and password and also reboot ea1 to connect.